Business units Audited

All three business units contributed to the organic growth of the division in 2013. In particular, Lab Solutions and Process Solutions, the two top-selling business units, generated good growth rates owing to price increases and higher sales volumes. Lab Solutions, which accounted for an unchanged 42% share of divisional sales, delivered good organic sales growth of 5.4% with its broad range of products for researchers and scientific laboratories. However, negative foreign exchange effects of –5.4% completely canceled out this growth. The business unit’s sales thus remained on par with 2012, amounting to € 1,097 million. Organic growth was mainly driven by elevated demand for biomonitoring solutions, particularly from customers in the pharmaceutical industry, as well as by price increases.

The Process Solutions business unit, which markets products and services for the pharmaceutical production value chain, generated organic sales growth of 7.7%, which was the highest rate within the Merck Millipore division. Taking into account a negative foreign exchange effect of –4.1% as well as the increase in sales of 1.1% due to the acquisition of Biochrom AG, sales amounted to € 1,096 million in 2013 (2012: € 1,046 million). Process Solutions thus accounted for 42% of divisional sales (2012: 40%). The increase was driven by higher demand from the pharmaceutical industry for products used in biopharmaceutical manufacturing, especially in Asia and the United States.

The Bioscience business unit, which primarily markets products and services for pharmaceutical, biotechnology and academic research laboratories, recorded a slight increase in organic sales of 0.3%. Including an adverse foreign exchange impact of –4.8%, sales amounted to € 434 million (2012: € 455 million). In particular, across-the-board health care spending cuts in the United States softened demand. The share of divisional sales accounted for by Bioscience in 2013 was 16% (2012: 18%).